Disclosure 103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

Occupational health, safety, and well-being add value to Clariant by minimizing the risk of harm to both people and the environment and reducing potential liabilities for the company. Processes regarding occupational safety are top priorities for Clariant to ensure seamless manufacturing operations, protect the health and safety of Clariant’s employees, and meet legal and reputational requirements. Failing to meet requirements has a direct negative impact on staff morale, labor costs, and productivity, as well as on operational costs. Moreover, negative incidents of occupational health, safety, and well-being have a detrimental effect on the company’s brand image.

As a global employer, Clariant is committed to promoting a healthy culture at the workplace, acknowledging the physical and mental well-being of its employees as a prerequisite for engagement and performance. The company aims to create an environment that encourages employees to actively self-manage their health and achieve an adequate work-life balance.

Occupational health, safety, and well-being are relevant for all Clariant businesses, including management-controlled joint ventures. The impacts of this topic occur within Clariant’s own operations.

Disclosure 103-2 The management approach and its components

Clariant’s Corporate Environmental Safety and Health Affairs (ESHA) Department and ESHA experts in all regions, countries, service units, and business units are responsible for managing occupational health and safety. Managing the well-being of Clariant’s employees is a shared responsibility of the well-being experts, the Corporate Human Resource Department, and the regional and local human resources departments.

Clariant is focused on its goal of zero accidents and its desire to embed process safety into the daily life of all operations. Milestones are defined on group, business unit, and regional levels and progress toward zero accidents is linked to top management bonuses. A zero-accident goal also reflects the company’s focus on the people dimension, one of Clariant’s brand values.

To ensure operational health, safety, and well-being, Clariant has several policies and guidelines in place, including an Employment Standards Policy that underscores Clariant’s commitment to global workplace rights, and acknowledges its social responsibility toward all employees. Clariant’s Sustainability Policy also contains a section on the safety and security of employees and the environment. Several additional guidelines cover a large number of safety and security issues, such as fire and explosion precautions, the handling of hazardous substances, and the identification of risks associated with chemical production. In addition, Clariant adheres to the Precautionary Principle when dealing with risks where scientific understanding is incomplete.

In 2007, Clariant launched the AvoidingAccidents@Clariant program, underscoring its commitment to the occupational health, safety, and well-being of its employees. Under the umbrella of the program, Clariant rolled out multifaceted trainings and tools to achieve the zero-accidents objective. These include, for example, safe behavior trainings, safety leadership improvements, safety checks, safety days, and safety weeks.

As part of Clariant’s Audit Program, internal experts from corporate ESHA and the Integrated Group System Management (IGSM) regularly visit sites to ensure process safety by assessing the facilities and establishing corrective measures to tackle the main risks. Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs) are conducted periodically by competent personnel at the sites. The PHAs are reviewed at least every five years and updated in case of modifications. Whenever modifications are done in the facilities, management of change procedures are applied, ensuring that no new or additional risks are introduced without being assessed and controlled.

Clariant’s »Safety Counts!« cards also play an important role in ensuring health and safety by providing employees with an opportunity to report critical safety situations and the circumstances that led to them. Employees can also submit their proposals to improve occupational health, safety, and well-being in suggestions boxes. Furthermore, they have access to an Integrity Line hosted by an external service provider, where they can raise their complaints anonymously and around the clock. The system guarantees that concerns are dealt with by representatives of Group Compliance.

Workplace health promotion is a local responsibility that each Clariant region addresses with tailored programs. The offerings include stress-management trainings, access to fitness facilities or financial contributions to external fitness programs, healthy meals in cafeterias, and access to nutrition counseling and health checks. Since a balance between work and family life significantly contributes to the well-being of employees, Clariant also offers a wide range of flexible working arrangements, such as flextime, part-time, or working from home. To further support Clariant’s local activities and promote a shared culture of health and well-being, the company plans to initiate a global policy to provide a framework for new ways of working, including agile and mobile work.

Disclosure 103-3 Evaluation of the management approach

To evaluate the effectiveness of the management approach, Clariant monitors several key performance indicators on a regular basis: Lost Time Accident Rate (LTAR) is tracked monthly, Recorded Injuries quarterly, and Occupational Illness annually. Safety Deviations are continuously monitored at respective sites and quarterly on a global level.

Furthermore, Clariant monitors all Process Safety Events (PSEs). All reported PSEs are assessed quarterly and published in Corporate ESHA dashboards. When Clariant identifies a trend in Process Safety Events that must be corrected, the corresponding units are contacted and instructed to take corrective measures.

In order to better align regional and local activities, Clariant will shortly define a global approach that includes key performance indicators, priorities, and measures. It will also feature a policy framework for flexible working arrangements that will be closely aligned with local practices and business needs.